A new Black business group has emerged in Kingston, Ont.

The Black Entrepreneurship Ecosystem for Southeastern Ontario (BEE-SEO) received support from the city’s economic development agency in a partnership launched Thursday (Feb. 23), according to the Kingston Whig-Standard.

The city will help the organization identify challenges for Black entrepreneurs through a needs assessment and connect founders with the resources and support necessary for growth.

“When looking across the southeastern Ontario corridor, Black-owned businesses are quite scattered and disconnected,” Norman Musengimana, business development manager at Kingston Economic Development, entrepreneur and current BEE-SEO board member, told the Whig-Standard. “We saw an opportunity to help bring our growing community together, and this led to a series of meetings that was a catalyst to create a formal organization.”

A recent report from StatsCan suggests that Black-owned businesses tend to have smaller payrolls and underperform financially compared to companies owned by white, Asian and Latino groups in communities across Canada.

A 2021 survey by the African Canadian Senate Group and Sen. Colin Deacon showed 44 per cent of Black entrepreneurs in Canada were unable to pay themselves from their businesses. Additionally, a Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce report suggests that Black business owners lacked the confidence to request funding due to past experiences with racial discrimination or couldn't find suitable funding for their businesses after many attempts.

The BEE-SEO will aim to target these challenges in Kingston, where the potential for economic development is emerging.

Last week, FedDev Ontario earmarked $40 million for rural economic development assistance and is involved in a number of projects in the Kingston area. And zero-carbon residential projects are popping up in the city for the first time, creating opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in real estate and sustainability sectors.

Moreover, a provincial program facilitated by the Kingston Economic Development office will distribute $70,000 in microgrants to new and local businesses. Applications close on March 17.

“In the Kingston region, the Black community is steadily growing and thriving,” Dejhana Sandes, programs and administration co-ordinator at Kingston Economic Development, told the Whig-Standard. “We just needed to step forward and organize as a collective rather than individually trying to navigate a path to growth. We are proud to be making these strides and are grateful for the support we have already been showered with even at this initial stage.”

The partnership was launched during a Black History Month event at Daft Brewing in Kingston, Ont.

Black entrepreneurs Anthony Ighomuaye, founder and CEO of Cavlom; Martha Williams, founder and CEO at Pedal Works Café and Studio; Emmanuel Tamrat, CEO and founder at Blindspot Agency; Nomsa Mngoma, CEO and founder at Dansani Dancing Company, and Constantin Mugenga, founder and CEO at Imperial Cleaning and Painting company were some of the Black entrepreneurs showcased at the event, according to the Kingstonist.

Kingston and the Islands MP Mark Gerretsen and Mayor Bryan Paterson were in attendance.